I still remember a mom who messaged me at 11pm, half apologising for texting so late. Her exact words were “I don’t know if I’m overreacting, but I think my son might be struggling with reading.” She wasn’t overreacting. And if you’re reading this because you suspect your own child is struggling with reading, you’re probably not either. Here’s what I’ve learned after years of teaching phonics to hundreds of kids: about 1 in 5 children has some kind of reading difficulty. Most of them are never “diagnosed” with anything. They just need the right kind of help, early. So before you spiral into worry, let’s just look at the signs together, calmly, like we’re having chai and chatting about it.
7 signs your child is struggling with reading
1. Rhyming feels impossible. Try this tonight: say “cat, hat, bat” and ask your child what other words fit. If rhyming games get a blank stare instead of giggles, that’s worth noting. Playing with sounds is the first building block of phonics. 2. Guessing instead of sounding out. You know this one. Your child looks at the word “dog” and says “puppy” because there’s a picture of a puppy right there. It’s not laziness, it’s actually a clever workaround, but it stops working the moment books get harder and pictures disappear. 3. Suddenly “hating” reading. I’ve seen this pattern so many times. A kid who loved being read to at age 3 suddenly refuses to open a book at age 6. Usually it’s not about the story. It’s about reading feeling hard, and nobody likes feeling like they’re bad at something. 4. Choppy, word by word reading. Listen to how your child reads out loud. Are they reading in little phrases with some rhythm, or is every single word its own separate struggle? The second one means all their brain power is going into decoding, with nothing left over to actually enjoy or understand the story. 5. Mixing up letters or forgetting sounds. A little bit of b and d confusion around age 5 is normal. If it’s still happening a lot by age 7, or if your child genuinely can’t remember what sound a letter makes even after you’ve gone over it many times, it’s worth paying attention to. 6. Written instructions don’t land, but spoken ones do. This one surprises parents. Your child follows “go brush your teeth and grab your bag” perfectly. But the same instruction written on a whiteboard? Completely lost. That gap usually points to decoding, not understanding. 7. They talk way above their reading level. This is honestly my favorite sign to explain, because it’s actually good news. A child who chatters away like a little lawyer but reads two levels behind almost always has the language skills already there. What’s missing is the phonics bridge to connect spoken words to written ones. That’s a very fixable gap. 
Okay, so what do I actually do now?
Take a breath first. Seriously. None of this means something is “wrong” with your child. It usually just means they need a different approach than what’s happening right now. Research from reading experts backs up what I see in my own classes: early, targeted support makes the biggest difference. A few things that genuinely help:
- Have an honest, specific chat with their teacher. Don’t just ask “how is my child doing,” ask directly about decoding and phonemic awareness benchmarks for their age.
- Read together every single day, with zero pressure. Take turns, or let them “read” the pictures while you read the words out loud. This is about connection, not correction.
- Look for structured, step by step phonics teaching, not just “read more books.” This is genuinely the single biggest difference maker I’ve seen in eight years of doing this.
That last point is exactly why I built our program the way I did. Five stages, one skill at a time, nothing skipped, nobody left guessing. If two or more of these signs sounded familiar, and you think your child might be struggling with reading, I’d really love to just chat with you about where they actually stand. No pressure, no sales pitch, just an honest look together. Curious where your child stands right now? Book a free demo class with us and let’s figure it out together.